Thunderbird Effigy...Real or Myth?

[romeo-1]

I was hoping to get some feedback as to the reality of knapped flint thunderbird effigies. Has anyone ever seen one or even found one or are they a myth. Thanks.

 

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[Tnmountains]

Tnmountains, I know an "arrowhead", but what am I looking at in your pics? Here on the East Coast we don't have anything like that. I've not seen them before.

Knapped exotics from Central America. They have a red dust on them called cinnabar. It is a type of mercury that was used in burials, ceramics and jewelry in ancient cultures. These particular pieces were in a friend of mines collection. I know the Smithsonian viewed them and wanted them as they are some of the finest flint work they had seen. He died. I am unsure where they went. I assume they were real as he would always point out the items he got burned on. I want to say Mayan,,, possibly Aztec. I forget which.
Maybe Joshuaream or Grim or some of the more knowledgeable then me might recognize them. I will look at my notes and see if I wrote anything down.

 

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[smokeythecat]

Thanks. I knew they weren't from around these here parts! I have recently come across some 17th century trade items! That's been a blast. My Deus sucks them out of the ground at depth. I have found the trade items now in four states over the last 2 years! Who would have thought?

 

[southfork]

Mesa Verde Colorado shell or bone ?

 

[joshuaream]

TnMtns,

I have a lot of Mayan eccentrics but those are amazing examples.

Seriously top shelf stuff.

Joshua

Even in cultures that did extensive intricate knapping you never see a Thunderbird.... Maybe a lizard.

View attachment 1734138

 

[MAMucker]

Some of these were clearly designed by Batman.

 

[southfork]

A dear old friend had this frame passed down from his grandfather . He was real upset with me when I told him what he had but finally excepted the facts .

 

[Rodneyp75]

View attachment 1704479 nice find ,here's 1 I found at the Runion home site on the nolichucky river here in northeast Tn.

This looks a lot like the one I found when I was about 12 years old between Cherokee, NC and Bryson City, NC. My dad was fishing and I was playing near a small creek gathering rocks to build a small dam. It was buried about 6-8” I found it when pulling up a big rock. We took it to someone to look at in Cherokee to figure out what I found, I think it was the museum. They immediately said it was fake without looking at it, but when I told him how I found it he looked at it closer and was much more interested. He looked at it under a microscope and said it was not carved by modern tools and the carving marks were not recently done. The carving marks match arrowheads found in the area 400-500 years ago.

He asked more than once if I found it on the reservation which I did not. He then ask if I wanted to donate it to the museum, but I wanted to keep this it was the first thing I had found like this. He then offered to buy it and my dad stepped in and said we are going to hold onto it. I still have it 30 years later. I have it boxed up somewhere at my parents or my house and have not touched it in 20 years. Once I run across it again I plan to take it back to the reservation and donate it to their museum.

I know there are real ones because there was no way what I found was planted in this location.

 

[quito]

Welcome to the forum! Take a pic for us before you donate.

 

[DirtyHandsCleanPoints]

I was hoping to get some feedback as to the reality of knapped flint thunderbird effigies. Has anyone ever seen one or even found one or are they a myth. Thanks.

I posted mine.

 

[CreekSide]

I posted mine.

This is originally from 2008
Last post was 2019 before you bumped it

 

[Older The Better]

Funny it’s been bumped so recently I’m about to bump it again, was told about an arrowhead collection at a local business I looked at it on my lunch break the effigies made me suspicious of the authenticity of the rest although I’d say most seem fine… any opinions on these? Not necessarily asking if all are fake but more opinions on these. I had heard all were fakes but reading this thread makes me wonder… also happened to see some very similar artifacts already posted.

Here’s previous posts

 

[Tnmountains]

Funny it’s been bumped so recently I’m about to bump it again, was told about an arrowhead collection at a local business I looked at it on my lunch break the effigies made me suspicious of the authenticity of the rest although I’d say most seem fine… any opinions on these? Not necessarily asking if all are fake but more opinions on these. I had heard all were fakes but reading this thread makes me wonder… also happened to see some very similar artifacts already posted. View attachment 2142524View attachment 2142525View attachment 2142526
Here’s previous posts
View attachment 2142527View attachment 2142528

00
No offense but I would hesitate on any item in that frame just for the reason of the repops.

 

[newnan man]

Save your money, those are fakes.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

I wouldn't buy any of them, fake, I don't see any patina on any of the effigies.

 

[Older The Better]

Oh I wasn’t going to buy just got me thinking about the “thunder birds” I’m in the same camp, those made me suspicious of the whole thing, not that I think the points aren’t mostly real but if there’s a few fantasy pieces in there there may be more fakes. I also can’t see those 3 pieces being any kind of broke points they have to be intentionally made that way

guess I left out the whole frame… a few interesting ones maybe a Clovis or Folsom drill middle left, and a nice dove tail near 7 o’clock in the circle but for the most part forms that I don’t think someone would bother to fake.

 

[newnan man]

It makes no sense to incorporate fakes along with authentic artifacts. It throws doubt on everything.